10 Weirdest Reasons Popular TV Shows Were Cancelled

3. Designated Survivor - The Cast Weren't Locked Down (And All Took Different Jobs)

In the modern movie and TV climate, producers spend a lot of time and money locking down their talent. Marvel ushered in the age of six, seven, eight, nine-picture contracts for its biggest stars, but similar practices were more common in the TV realm, with executives wanting to keep the stars of a show around for as many seasons as possible.

This doesn't always work out, but there have been too many disastrous attempts to keep a show going when the core cast has jumped ship for most networks to let contracts fall by the wayside.

However, this is exactly what led to the end of Designated Survivor, which moved to Netflix for a third season after being dropped by ABC. In an interview, star Kiefer Sutherland explained:

"The reality is, because the contracts were so complicated and different from network television to Netflix, they didn't book a lot of the actors who were on the show and they took other jobs. I don't blame them for a second for that."

Essentially, all the talent took other gigs because Netflix didn't get around to drafting long-term contracts, and it didn't make sense pushing forward on another season without them.